


i'm jealous of the nights (that i don't spend with you)

by serenascampbell



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Angst, Arguing, F/F, Insecurity, angry chas, classic dingle, pub fight, soft charity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-26
Updated: 2018-02-26
Packaged: 2019-03-24 03:29:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,021
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13802457
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/serenascampbell/pseuds/serenascampbell
Summary: vanessa seems particularly busy at work. charity gets the wrong end of the stick and tells chas who overreacts and makes the situation even worse. arguments ensue. (let me know if you want 'the talk')





	i'm jealous of the nights (that i don't spend with you)

Between the late nights and the early mornings, Charity barely sees Vanessa anymore. The current excuse is that it’s lambing season, and for the first couple of weeks, it sticks. She tells herself that she has to accept that Vanessa has other responsibilities and she can’t drop everything as soon as Charity wants a quickie in the cellar. She tells herself, but she struggles to really follow through with the acceptance.

“I’ve gotta go, babe. Luce Rainer says one of her ewes has gone into labour,” Vanessa announces as she hops up out of bed at almost midnight on a Thursday. “I’ll try and be quiet if I get back early.”

Without even a kiss on the cheek, Vanessa is out of the bedroom door and halfway down the stairs. Charity huffs, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling until she hears the front door shut. It’s been weeks, and this Luce Rainer has had a ewe in labour almost every other night, all at an ungodly hour.

Charity tells herself not to get jealous. She’s not invested enough for that. She doesn’t care if Vanessa goes off and flirts with some mediocre farmer’s daughter a couple of times a week. Except she does care, and she’s had plenty of time to conjure up a dozen awful scenarios in her mind.

Of course, she won’t say anything. She isn’t about to cause drama unnecessarily and expose her insecurities. She had a plan, of course, and it came in the form of Chastity Dingle. Tomorrow was the fateful day, simply because she couldn’t wait any longer to know the truth.

She tossed and turned all night, and only at 4:30 when she heard a car stop outside did she turn over for the final time and close her eyes, feigning sleep until it finally overtook her.

“Good morning,” Vanessa greeted happily as she thrust an already buttered slice of toast into Charity’s hand as she entered the kitchen. “I’ve gotta go see a man about a dog; the man being Paddy and the dog being Mrs Prescott’s little Dachshund. But after that, I’m all yours unless I get called in. I was thinking we could make the most of me finally getting a couple of hours to myself,”

Vanessa had a flirtatious look spread across her face and Charity was so terribly tempted to forget her plans and give into her own desire. She had done before. Three times already, in fact, but this time felt like it was now or never.

“Maybe we can,” she answered with a smirk, taking a bite of her toast and smiling.

At 9:30, she headed over to the pub to start her shift. Chas was actually around for the first time in weeks, infuriatingly smug about her perfect baby bump, so Charity wasn’t on her own working the bar.

She behaved normally for the first hour, waited until Vanessa arrived with Rhona for a drink before she pulled Chas into the back room for a chat. The chat that was going to set the wheels in motion.

“What’s up, Charity? There is a bar out there that needs working if you weren’t aware,” Chas asked impatiently, straightening up slightly at the seriousness on her cousin’s face.

“Okay, you’re not allowed to freak out because I need your help with it but…I think Vanessa’s cheating,” Charity began and as soon as the words were out of her mouth, she wished she could pull them back.

“She WHAT?” Chas yelled as she whipped around and headed for the door, fury in her steps. “She’s sat out there drinking _our_ beer and eating _our_ chips while she’s warming some dirty little tramp’s bed?”

Charity grabbed her by the back of the shirt, hoping to stop her in her tracks before she caused a scene but apparently, pregnant Chas was a stronger force than she had anticipated. She pulled right out of her hold and stormed out into the bar, making a beeline for an unsuspecting Vanessa.

“Chas?” Vanessa greeted cautiously as she became aware of her presence, turning her head to look at a raging, red-faced Dingle. “What’s ‘appened?”

“Chas, let’s go into the back, okay? Leave it, I told you not to make a scene. Come back with-”

“NO, CHARITY! I’m _not_ letting her get away with this!” She snapped out, grabbing Vanessa by the ponytail and yanking her out of her seat. “You think you’ve got the right to cheat on our Charity, do ye’? Think you can do better?”

Behind them, Charity still had a hand on Chas’ shoulder, firmly trying to pull her back and pleading with her to stop this. Her begging went unheard, of course.

The entire pub was watching intently with shocked expressions. Rhona was on her feet, trying to get Chas off of Vanessa.  Debbie pulled Charity back, wrapping her arms around her mother’s waist from behind and holding her firmly.

“What are you talkin’ about? Charity, what’s she talkin’ about?” Vanessa questioned, drawing air between her teeth as Chas kept a firm hold of her hair. “Charity!”

“Oh, you playin’ dumb, are ye’? Bad move. Nobody believes you, least of all her!” Chas bit out, punctuating every syllable before she yanked Vanessa up so she could see her face and spat viciously at her. “That’s what you deserve,”

“Chas! Get off her!” Charity yelled finally, bringing silence to the room as she held her hand over her mouth in shock and wormed her way out of Debbie’s hold. “Ness,”

Vanessa was a whole cocktail of emotion; hurt, shock, confusion, anger. She wiped her cheek with her hand in disgust. Her eyes met Charity’s and both women found themselves speechless.

Chas had headed straight for the back, clearly offended that even Charity was holding her actions against her. Debbie’s face was a picture, she couldn’t decide whether to feel bad for Vanessa or whether to smack her for good measure if what Chas had said was true.

“Why don’t we go and clean you up?” Rhona suggested timidly, reaching to guide her friend by the arm to the toilets.

“No. She should use mine.” Charity bit out bluntly, grabbing Vanessa’s clean hand and dragging her through to the kitchen.

She told Victoria to get out for a few minutes, ran a cloth under the hot tap and passed it to Vanessa wordlessly. There was a tense silence between the pair of them as Vanessa washed herself clean of Chas, still somewhat shell-shocked by what had happened.

“So, gonna tell me what that was about?” Vanessa suggested as she tossed the cloth into the sink and glared expectantly at her girlfriend. “See, I live with three Dingles, I expect to get spat at on occasion, but I normally like to know why. If you could enlighten me, Charity.”

“I didn’t think she’d react so badly,” Charity admitted, eyes fixed on the ground as she forced the words out shamefully. “I wasn’t expecting her to go for you like that, ‘Ness.”

“She said I cheated. What the _hell_ was she goin’ on about?” Vanessa demanded, anger lacing her impatient tone. “Is there something I should know?”

“I only told her because I wanted to be sure, okay! Babe, I was gonna ask her to flirt with ye’, not start a bloody cat fight in front of ‘alf the village!” Charity retorted defensively, eyes snapping up to meet Vanessa’s and seeing the hurt there. “I didn’t want to cause trouble if I was worrying about nothing, but it looks I have now, doesn’t it!”

It wasn’t clear whether Vanessa was about to burst into tears or about to punch Charity square in the nose. Her expression was such a blend of emotions right now that it was hard to tell them apart.

“You thought I was cheatin’ on ye’? With WHO?” Vanessa demanded sharply, face painted with disgust at the mere allegation.

“That _bloody_ Luce Rainer, okay! Maybe it was stupid, or maybe you two are carryin’ on and this is all some elaborate ruse to cover it up but you can’t blame me for thinkin’ it! You’ve been at ‘er beck and call every night for weeks now!” Charity snapped, hiding her fears behind vitriolic words. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You’re wrong, you absolute moron. Not only did you think I would stoop _low_ enough to cheat on you, you thought I’d cheat on you with a chubby, ginger, nineteen-year old girl who’s getting married in a fortnight? Nice to know how highly you think of me!” The vet was positively fuming, and entirely unprepared to be reasonable about this. “How bloody dare you? If one of us is gonna cheat, babe, look at our pasts!”

Charity looked at her in wide-eyed shock. It wasn’t Vanessa’s style to dig up what was long buried and yet here she was.

“And maybe that makes me better equipped to see the signs, I’ve spent most of my life playin’ the other woman so I should damn well know when I’m about to get jilted!” Charity yelled and suddenly it becomes about so much more than Luce Rainer. “You wanna leave me? Fine! But I will not be made a laughing stock of, not by you, ‘Ness.”

Vanessa closes the space between them, pinning Charity against the sink so that she can’t avoid eye contact. She could kiss her in this moment and this would be over, Chas would apologise, and things would go back to normal but she can’t let it go, no matter how much she wants to.

“When are you gonna accept that maybe someone cares about you? When are you gonna accept that I’m not gonna leave you for the next nice-looking lass to walk through the door because I bloody love you, Charity, and I’m sick of you actin’ like I’m the reason you’re so bloody frightened this won’t work out!”

The tension between the two of them is unlike anything either woman has ever known.

“Fine! Maybe I am bloody frightened and maybe I don’t want to admit that but can you blame me? You’re perfect and you’re nice and you’re everything I’m not and you deserve better and everybody in this entire village knows it! If I can’t hold onto the blokes I’ve dated in the past then how the hell d’you reckon I’m gonna keep you?”

“Charity, I am not gonna leave you for some sleazy farmer’s daughter. Stop worrying that you’re gonna mess this up because you’re a self-fulfilling bloody prophecy! I love you and I am not going to jeopardise that if I can help it,” Vanessa admits, her voice softening at Charity’s honesty instantly. “Why the hell did you go to Chas before you just came and spoke to me about it, though? Is that really what you think of me? Wouldn’t even talk to me about it…”

Charity hates herself a little for that. In a way she doesn’t think she ever has before.

“I didn’t want to say anything if it wasn’t true, which _clearly_ it wasn’t. I know I’m an idiot. I am. But I’m an idiot who loves you and that’s gotta make things a bit better, right?” she suggests nervously. “Maybe better enough that you might forgive me?”

Vanessa rolled her eyes and pressed a confident kiss to Charity’s lips, lingering there for barely a second before she draws back.

“I don’t forgive you, not yet. We have to talk about this properly because I don’t want to get spat at every time I’m busy at work for a couple of weeks. But I love you, so I won’t relegate you to the sofa for being an absolute plank.”

“I love you too, and I’m sorry I’m an absolute plank. I’ll give Chas a right hidin’ for spittin’ at you, and we’ll talk, as long as Luce Rainer can manage for a couple of hours without your _services._ ”

Charity receives a sharp elbow to the ribs followed in quick succession by a tender kiss that reminds her why she’s so scared of losing this.


End file.
